It all seems surreal...

We first discovered Couples 3 years ago when looking for a honeymoon destination. It was Sans Souci that called out to us way back when. I found this place of paradise by fluke.. I guess it was meant to be because it called to me. It actually took a hold of my mind, keeping my focus as very few things seem to, and I was awash in the excitement. I had to find out everything I could about this place I saw on the internet. It looked amazing.
All the special places...nooks and crannies, the beach, the lobby.... Everything about it left me in awe. I had found it while my future wife was at work, and the excitement inside could hardly be maintained. She knew immediately when she got home that I had found something special. I showed her the pictures, and the look on her face was priceless.
We knew that this was ours. A place to be together, to start our life together. A place of splendor, of relaxation. We had no idea at that point 3 years ago what we were getting into. We arrived to our first "welcome home" October 1, 2010. From that point on, our week in paradise was nothing but perfect.
We had an amazing wedding with family and friends here at home. I got 3 more kids, she got 2. We were now 1 shy of the Brady bunch, and couldn't be more happy about it. I remember many years prior that I had said I would never marry again. Well this special woman had taken me from "never" to actually proposing to her in front of all our family and friends in 4 short years. I love her beyond the heavens, and all 5 of our kids as well. Perfect doesn't even come close to describing it.
So here we were, In Jamaica, at San Souci. Taking in everything.The sounds. the smells. The amazing ambiance. A paradise found. An amazing week as the start of our married life together.
Since then it's been almost like the only thing we now look forward to is those blissful days at our home away from home. After the first trip, we booked 2 more. After the second trip, I booked another. After the third trip, We booked again. Seemed almost strange not to have 2 countdowns going at the same time. It's like a feeling of comfort in knowing we will be back home.
This past September, after enduring a 541 day countdown, it wasn't until we were on our way to the airport that it hit me. As we made our way out of our little suburb, I switched the radio to my Bob Marley CD to play. Suddenly tears started rolling down my cheeks. My stomach was in knots. I was giddy all over. "WE are going home"!!! I was almost jumping out of my seat!!! I guess the long wait and sudden realization of actually being in the moment, on the day of return to our home, was far too much for my emotions to handle. I cried all the way to the airport. A Mr. tough guy crying... go figure... We spent another glorious week in our home away from home.
Less than 2 weeks after our return, we booked for April. Oh good God, here we go again!!!
This wonderful place called "without worries" has taken us fully. It's beauty, it's charm has caused a shift in lifestyle for us both. As many have been drawn into the "family' of couplesholics, we are only two of many with our story to tell. May the next 163 days pass without event, without harm nor too much stress, and let us be within the gates of our paradise come April... and September, let her welcome us again...

Im sure a small adjustment to your meds might smooth things out a bit for you but at the same time its a wonderful testimony to your happiness and marriage.

Far be it for me to recommend an alteration to your recipe for being happy, but as frequent travelers to many countries and our 11th trip to the caribbean we have yet to duplicate the same trip. Thats just us. We were at CN some 14 years ago and this is our 4th trip to Negril, the last being 11 years ago.

The old saying "you take the weather with you where ever you go" is kind of true. After 27 years of marriage and many trips we love the adventure of discovery and living new experiences together. Thats our recipe.

Most of us who have been there know exactly how you feel. You go to a Couples Resort, you will go again. For many of us again, and again, and again...

For us, some friends told us about this amazing place called Swept Away. We had no idea what we were in for, but we knew it would be good. We went there for our 25th anniversary. We were hooked.

Now, we have an ongoing vacation fund. We put as much money as we can into this fund. Every couple of years it builds up enough so that we can return. We have been to CSA twice and CTI once. We have our next trip to CTI booked and paid for. Only 96 more days until paradise.

I feel the same way, novastar. I have found myself almost in tears when I've called couples to book the last couple of trips. Jim isn't quite as passionate as we are but he still loves our trips to csa. My family and co -workers don't get it. Maybe someday my sister will get there. We are renewing our vows next April and can't wait to get there

My wife wanted me to surprise her for her 50th birthday in July this year and take her somewhere special so having spent weeks trawling the net and looking at many destinations around the world I had almost started to despair as I could not find the 'place'. Then one night whilst she was working I decided to try again and started doing numerous searches in Google like turtle and shark (we love snorkelling and have swam with sharks, turtles, manta rays etc in the past), hot sunny weather (we love to get a sun tan), topless sunbathing (my wife hates bikini lines), swim up bar (my wife has always wanted to go to a pool with a bar) and after a few searches one place kept appearing over and over again in the results, 'Couples San Souci' in Jamaica (we had never been to the Carribean so had never thought about it as a destination before). So I started reading about it and instantly fell in love with it as it ticked all the right boxes and decided immediately that was where we had to go even though it would be a four hour drive to the airport followed by a 10 to 11 hour flight and a 2 hour transfer and would cost from the UK a lot of money but it was the one I knew my wife would love too as a 50th birthday present.

The only problem was that the holiday destination had to be a surprise so after booking it the fact I could not tell her drove me up the wall as the months went by as with all my research beforehand I knew virtually everything about the place and could not wait.

All I told my wife was we were going somewhere hot and she packed the suitcases accordingly (if I had told her about the A/N I could have saved a lot of weight in the luggage as she took too many clothes) and then we travelled down to London Gatwick airport the night before our holiday and stayed in a lovely bed and breakfast in a little English country village and spent the evening with a couple of drinks and food in the local village pub but it was so surreal in the fact I still could not talk about the holiday.

The following day we asked the hotel to call us a taxi and whilst waiting for it I told her where we were going and showed her a couple of videos on my phone (one from the Couples website and one a holidaymaker had made) and the look in her face was a picture. I had decided to tell her then as I presumed the taxi driver would ask and the airport check in would have signs with Montego Bay on and the check in staff would ask questions about where we were going etc and I did not want her to find out by accident after all the months of not knowing. As it happened all the tour operators flights checked in at the same desk and no one asked so I could have got away with not telling her until we went to board the flight. On the flight I gave my wife an envelope which contained pages of information and pictures from the Couples website for her to read - I never said a word about the A/N and waited for her to finish reading everything and then she turned and said to me, I presume you expect us to visit the A/N beach sometime during our stay to which I replied yes on the first morning (we subsequently loved it and spent almost all our days there).

After a long trip and transfer we arrived at CSS and it far exceeded my wildest dreams and we both fell in love with the place (just like everyone else on these boards) and had a fantastic holiday so much so that we wanted to return ASAP and I would have loved to go back again in October but as my wife had set her heart on going to Bali (in Indonesia) and as I knew we could not afford to go to both I felt even more dejected than normal after a holiday as we flew home knowing the chances of being able to save up again and return in the future was virtually nil.

So you can imagine our delight when we got home to find a large cheque (check) from our insurance company saying we had been mis-sold some insurance and this covers the over payments we had made and this meant we could afford to go to Bali and CSS (so have booked for next March).

You can tell how much CSS had got into my blood as even though our holiday to Bali would have normally been a once in a lifetime trip I found all I could think of before hand was returning to CSS which was wierd.

We have now returned from our holiday in Bali and it was wonderful holiday (we went elephant riding, white water rafting, walked along the seabed in diving gear amongst other things) and I would recommend the holiday to anyone however it was not CSS so I doubt we will ever return to Bali again unlike Jamaica.